Had about three hours to kill today, so enjoy the next chapter a bit early. Be sure to read the author's note at the bottom, as I will be making a request. Thanks to everybody who reviewed yesterday! I loved reading them, it made me so, so, so, so happy. Enjoy.
The darkness of Achlys's cloak suffocated him. Nico felt the soft, sheen fabric wrap around his lungs and squeeze the air from his chest cavity. Nico's mouth was agape with shock, and he wanted to let loose an angry scream. He wanted to kick and fight back against the minor goddess, but the material was too constricting. He felt his body traveling through the shadows of the world. Suddenly, as fast as it all happened, the fabric was gone, and Nico was dropped ten feet from the air and hit the hard pavement with a groan.
"Great Gods of Olympus." Nico mumbled. Now he knew how Will felt.
"What in Hades domain is this, Achlys?" A low rumbled voice echoed throughout the room that Nico had found himself trapped in. He managed to lift his head and look around.
He was contained in the seance room of the House of Hades. A round room used by head priestesses to summon powerful spirits. Spirits like my sister, Nico thought. Looming in front of him were the Doors of Death. Dormant as the day Nico, and his friends closed them. The doors stretched up the huge expanse of the wall, but instead of their former open status, the doors were now bound with chains, and over a hundred padlocks locked them in place.
"A gift, ma'am. A gift for you." Achlys hissed in her demonic voice. Nico hauled himself off the stone floor and instantly wanted to lay back down. Melinoe stood in front of him in all her glory.
Melinoe was technically Nico's half sister. The daughter of Persephone, and Hades. She was split in appearance straight down the middle. Her hair was parted equally, half black like his own and half pure white. On her black side, she had hardened skin like a mummy, and two void like black eyes. It was said to symbolize Hades and her position as Goddess of Ghosts. Her white side had pale, colorless skin, and dainty features. This was said to symbolize Persephone's despair when she returned to the underworld for the winter.
"Why would I want one of my demigod siblings?" Melinoe snarled. Her face contracted in a snarl, and she turned her back away from Nico. Nico's hand rested on his blade, and he took a half step toward her.
"Melinoe." Nico said, his voice wavering. He hadn't faced Melinoe since he retrieved the sword of Hades with Percy, and Thalia. Melinoe had taken on the ghost of Nico's late mother, and Percy vanquished her while he stood paralyzed with fear. Not one of his proudest moments.
"I come in peace." Nico finished. He slowly brought out the tattered scroll out from his black cloth bag. Melinoe watched him with caution.
"I need your help. I need to know the whereabouts of this spirit." Nico finished, unrolling the scroll, and holding it in front of his face for Melinoe to look at. She was across the room, but in an instant she flitted toward him at light speed. Nico tried his hardest not to flinch as she leaned close to the scroll. Inspecting the photo with her void-like eyes.
"I know of her." Melinoe said, flitting across the room again and eyeing Nico with regard.
"Can you tell me where she is? Please, I come in peace." Nico repeated as he returned the scroll to his bag. Melinoe was a powerful goddess. She could control the dead, and take on the one thing that feared Nico most. His past. Nico had a lot of ghosts, and he didn't have indestructible Percy here to save him. He had to keep Melinoe calm, and carefree.
"Peace!" Melinoe said with a scuff. "Mother, and father wanted Peace. Don't haunt the living during the day. Don't upset the balance between living, and death. Don't do this, Don't do that." Melinoe said in a mocking voice, her hands waving around her head in wide, and wild gestures.
"They never did care for me." Melinoe said in a longing way, examining her fingernails on her pale, beautiful hand.
"I'm not here on behalf of our parents." Nico said. "This does not concern them." Melinoe walked the length of the room and eyed Nico. Nico felt himself shrink under her void-like gaze.
"I see you're ghosts, Nico Di Angelo. And I remember our previous encounter very well." She said. There was a threatening tone in her last sentence. Nico swallowed his fear down and held his ground against his older sister. Melinoe sighed.
"You wish for me to track this spirit?" Melinoe asked. Nico nodded. Not trusting his own voice.
"If I do such a senseless thing, what would I get in return?"
Nico knew that Melinoe was looking for something specific. Melinoe wasn't favored by Hades, and Persephone due to her obsession with the living. The night was not enough for her, and she wished to haunt mortals at every hour of the day. So Hades cursed her. The curse entitled that whenever Melinoe stepped into sunlight she became invisible. Unable to cause true fear in the mortals. Nico reached into his black bag and pulled out a peach that was encrusted with light pink diamonds.
"This," Nico said holding up the jewel encrusted fruit."I can give you this." Melinoe flitted across the room at light speed, and Nico almost dropped the peach.
"What is it?" Melinoe hissed. A bit of her spit got on Nico's cheek and he gagged a bit. Her breath was a horrid, rank mixture of death, and rotten flesh.
"It's a Light Peach. I got it from...uh... my, uh lover's father." Nico lied. He was embarrassed that even when he allowed his mind to fabricate a story, it instantly wove Will into the tale.
"What will it do?" Melinoe asked in a softer voice, she examined the peach closer and reached her finger out to touch it. Nico pulled it away instantly. He couldn't risk his cover to be blown. Once Melinoe touched it, she would know exactly what it was.
"It will allow you to travel in sunlight. Visible." Nico could see the excitement flick across her eyes, but her faced remained calm. She cleared her throat and began walking circles around Nico once more.
"And you would willingly hand this over to me?" Melinoe asked. Nico nodded.
"I can travel freely in light." Nico said with an indifferent shrug. "It is useless to me." Nico held the jeweled peach over a water drain to his left.
"But if you aren't interested..."
"No!" Melinoe said, reaching her hand out for him to stop. "I'll do it. Information for the peach." Nico nodded, and held the peach close to his chest once more.
"Information first." Nico said. Melinoe scowled.
"Swear you will give me the peach." she said.
"I swear on the river styx." Nico said automatically. He had every intention to hand the peach over to his half sister.
"This spirit wanders the fields of Asphodel." Melinoe said. "She carries a godly relic, and she is injured. She is moving at a slow pace toward the edge of Elysium." Melinoe finished. "A simple shadow travel can catch her in minutes." Melinoe held out her hand for the peach.
"The peach has a catch." Nico said. Melinoe frowned, and advanced toward Nico who took a step backward.
"What kind of catch?" She asked in a dangerous tone.
"It has to be fed to you. By a mortal." Nico said. He willed his voice to be steady, and calm, but at the same time he gagged at the thought of feeding the peach to Melinoe.
"So be it." She said. Nico knew he couldn't let Melinoe lay a finger on the peach. She would know it's true origins at once. She leaned her ghoulish face toward him and opened her mouth. Nico held his breath.
It was now or never.
He held the diamond encrusted peach up to her mouth. Her rank breath drifted across his nose, and Nico believed he was about to pass out. Finally, her teeth sank into the small fruit, and she swallowed it in one bite.
At once, her eyes shot open in recognition, and she pushed Nico away from her. Nico let out a strangled yell as he flew into the wall behind him.
"Fool!" She screeched. "A fruit from my mothers garden. That's tricky." Melinoe howled, and wagged a finger at Nico like she was scolding a child. Usually, children of the underworld could eat food of the underworld, but Melinoe had inherited her mothers curse, and couldn't touch a bite of food.
"You will pay." She warned, and began to stalk toward him. Nico drew his sword, and pointed it at her chest. She opened her mouth, and let out a loud howl that was filled with the wails of the dead. Nico shivered in fear, and pushed himself up against the wall behind him, bracing for impact.
However, before she could lay a finger on Nico, Melinoe exploded in a cloud of white, and black dust. Nico sighed in relief, and quickly picked himself up off the floor before turning on Achlys, and pointed his sword at her.
"Give me the cloak." Nico demanded, holding out his hand. Achlys stood flat against a rounded wall.
"It was a gift from my mother, Nyx." She mumbled, hesitant to give it up.
"Hand it over, Hag!" Nico yelled.
Achlys hurriedly ripped the black shawl from her shoulders, and thrust it into his hands. Nico avoided looking at her face, and threw the shawl around his shoulders. It was time to return to Will.
"Listen to me." Nico told her. "You're going to guard the Doors of Death, and not let anything through without my fathers permission. Or I swear on the river styx I'm going to lock you in a depression rehabilitation camp." Nico threatened her, and Achlys let out another high pitched wail.
Achlys agreed with a small nod, her wails continued to fill the air around them.
"Swear!" Nico yelled.
She cowered in her corner, and he almost felt a little bad for her.
"I swear I'll guard the doors. I swear on the River Styx!" She moaned.
Satisfied with his newly appointed guard, Nico put away his sword, and threw the shawl around his shoulders, and thought of home. He thought of Will.
The black fabric of Achlys's shawl wrapped around his body, and Nico felt myself move threw though the shadows of the world, connecting him from the House of Hades back to the bank of the river where Will was waiting. When his body finally stopped, he ripped the shawl off his body, and threw it on the ground. Nico gagged, and leaned over, dry heaving at the horrid stench of it.
Once he had recovered, Nico took in my surroundings. He wasn't at the bank of the River of Lamination. Instead, he was trapped in a small, dark jail cell. Nico let out a frustrated groan, and let his head fall against the steel bars.
"Veer a bit off course?" A voice asked from right behind me. Nico turned around, his hand drawing his sword instantly. Behind him, lounging on a slab of rock, sat Cupid.
"What are you doing here?" Nico spat toward him. He was stretched out like a cat against the back of the cell, and filing his nails like he was on a warm beach in California.
"Those are fighting words." Cupid pointed out not looking up from his nails. Nico scuffed.
"Where am I?" He asked.
Cupid shrugged.
"Some place in the Underworld I imagine. What I want to know is, how did you end up in a jail cell when you clearly were imagining that Will boy of yours. Could it be your feelings are still unresolved?" Cupid asked. Nico slumped against the cold bars, and brought his knees into his chest.
"You expect me to not be confused when you force a love potion onto me?" Cupid's file stopped it's back, and forth movement, and he glanced up at Nico. His curly black hair hung in his face a little.
"Love potion?" He asked. Nico reached for a chunk of rock by his feet, and hurled it in anger at the god. Which, in hindsight was probably a terrible idea, but it phased right through him, and he continued to stare at Nico as if nothing happened.
"Yes!" he yelled. "The potion you forced on me in Utah?" Cupid gave me a blank stare in return, and Nico wished he had another rock.
Suddenly, Cupid's eyes widened, and he started laughing. Nico scowled as he began laughing so hard that he had to set down his nail file.
"What is so funny?" Nico demanded to know. Cupid stood up, and brushed a crystal tear out of his bright blue eyes.
"That-ahahaha! That was-haha- That was just some left over 7 Up from my lunch that day!" Cupid managed to get the words out over his hysterical laughter. Nico's eyes widened, and he shot to his feet.
"Wait a minute-" Nico said.
"I just wanted to get you riled up a bit from our fiasco with the North wind." He said. His voice was breathless with giggles.
"Hold on-"
"I mean, i figured you would catch on once you tasted it. 7 Up has a very distinguished taste." He continued.
"Wait. You mean-"
"I can't believe the past two days you believed you were under the influence of a love potion!" He continued again. Nico was beginning to get mad. He grabbed his jacket, and shook him. Trying to get Cupid to pay attention to him, or at least look at him.
"Are you telling me that-"
"But, these sudden symptoms of love you describe. They must have been a subconscious reaction to believing that you imbibed a love potion." Cupid muttered, holding his index finger against his perfectly chiseled chin in thought.
"Shut up!" Nico yelled, and Cupid finally looked at him.
"Are you telling me that all this time I was never under the influence of a love potion?" Cupid began chuckling once more.
"Only the sweet, tangy influence of 7 Up. The amazing things mortals come up with, I mean they are remarkable." Cupid said.
Nico let him go, and ran his hands through his hair. A trait he was beginning to pick up from Will.
"I should probably kill you." Nico said in a matter-of-fact tone. Cupid brushed off invisible dirt where Nico had clutched his jacket.
"Well, maybe we can settle on breaking you out of here instead." Cupid said. He pulled his bow off of his shoulder, and drew back the string. A solid gold arrow materialized in the string, and he aimed is closely at the lock on my cell door. He released, and the lock exploded.
"Take that." Cupid said motioning to the shawl. "It will strengthen your shadow travel abilities." Nico nodded, and scooped up the fabric. The smell hit him like a wall, and he made a mental note to throw it in the washing machine when he got home.
"Good luck, Nico." Cupid said standing in the cell, one hand poised on his hip. Nico nodded, and wrapped the shawl around his shoulders.
I'm on my way, Will.
So here is my request. I want to work on a cover page for this story. If i have any artists reading this, and are interested in working on some coverart/fanart for this story please, please, please message me. You will be credited of course, and it can be a good chance to get your work out there. Go ahead and leave a review!
